Month: August 2019

More information: J.R. Weber, et al. “Quantum computing with defects.” PNAS. To be published. Doi:10.1073/pnas.1003052107 This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Scientists look beyond diamond for quantum computing However, since growing and fabricating devices from diamond is difficult from an engineering perspective, finding a similar defect in another material is desirable. As the physicists explain, defects in a more technologically mature host material could allow for more sophisticated single- and multiqubit devices and innovations in device functionality. In their study, the physicists based their criteria for qubit candidates on the diamond deep center defect, with the hope of finding defects with similar properties in other materials. The scientists explained that the diamond defect has two important features that distinguish it from other qubit systems. First, the defect is well isolated from possible sources of decoherence, enabling it to have long coherence times. Second, the defect’s excited state manifold has a structure that allows it to be optically initialized and measured at room temperature, whereas many other solid state systems require cryogenic operating temperatures. The physicists identified several physical characteristics that a candidate defect should have in order to reproduce these two important features.Finally, the scientists compared the diamond defects with deep center defects in another material, 4H silicon carbide. They noted that future work is needed to determine which other classes of deep centers follow the guidelines presented here, which could eventually lead to the qubits in tomorrow’s quantum computers.“We have several goals,” Awschalom said. “For instance, we would like to identify other defects that can be used as qubits so that we can better understand what combination of material properties lead to the most robust and easily controllable defect qubits. In addition, we’d like to find defect qubits in other materials that can be more easily grown and fabricated than diamond. We are also hopeful that this research will lead us to discover defects with quantum properties that have useful applications beyond those of quantum computing.” Copyright 2010 PhysOrg.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of PhysOrg.com. Explore further (PhysOrg.com) — To build a quantum computer, it’s essential to be able to quickly and efficiently manipulate the quantum states of qubits. The qubits, which are the basic unit of quantum information, can be composed of many different kinds of materials, although some work much better than others. With the goal of identifying which physical entities make the best qubits, a team of physicists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, has developed a list of characteristics and qualities that a material defect called deep centers should have in order to exhibit superior quantum mechanical properties. Citation: Physicists set guidelines for qubit candidates (2010, May 4) retrieved 18 August 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2010-05-physicists-guidelines-qubit-candidates.html “The qubits in a quantum computer must be able to retain the quantum information they are given long enough to perform quantum logic operations across them,” coauthor David Awschalom of UCSB told PhysOrg.com. “In general, this means that the qubits must not interact strongly with the other particles that make up their surroundings. However, if the qubits interact with their environment too weakly, you won’t able to controllably manipulate them in the first place. Therefore, it is important to find quantum systems that interact strongly with their environments in the ways we can control (so that we can manipulate them), but that don’t interact strongly in the other, more random ways that are not easily controllable (so that they don’t lose the information they are given). These kinds of quantum systems will make the best qubit candidates.”During the past two decades, qubits have been implemented in a range of materials including atoms, liquids, and solids (such as semiconductors, superconductors, and insulators). However, a deep center defect in diamond called the nitrogen vacancy center has emerged as a leading qubit candidate due to its attractive quantum mechanical properties. Specifically, the defect enables high quality quantum entanglement at room temperature that persists for milliseconds. This means that the diamond defect’s quantum state can be easily controlled and measured, making it a good candidate for a qubit.“In many cases, a defect in a crystalline material (such as diamond) can cause a single quantum state to form that does not interact strongly with the surrounding atoms that make up the remainder of the material,” Awschalom said. “This is the case for the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, which can retain the quantum information imparted to it for many milliseconds even at room temperature. In addition, the quantum state of the NV center in diamond can be easily controlled with a laser and microwave source, even though it does not interact strongly with the huge numbers of atoms that surround the defect. While the quantum states of most defects can not be controlled in the same way, the NV center owes these promising properties to its origin as a defect in diamond.”read more

Steven Senne by NPR News Merrit Kennedy 8.27.19 4:30pm Updated at 3:40 p.m. ETNorth Carolina is suing electronic cigarette companies that it accuses of selling products to children, amid a major increase in U.S. teens getting hooked on vaping.The state’s attorney general, Josh Stein, announced Tuesday that his office will be filing lawsuits in state court against eight companies that sell vaping products. His office is accusing these companies of “aggressively targeting children and do not require appropriate age verification when selling these dangerous and addictive products.”North Carolina law prohibits the sale of e-cigarette products to those younger than 18.Earlier this year, Stein filed a similar lawsuit against the popular e-cigarette company Juul. “Our complaints allege that these eight e-cig companies are helping to fuel an epidemic of vaping among high school and middle school students,” Stein said in a statement. “One look at their marketing materials demonstrates just how egregious their sales tactics are — with flavors like cotton candy, gummy bear, unicorn, and graham cracker, they’re clearly targeting young people.”The companies targeted by the lawsuits are Beard Vape, Direct eLiquid, Electric Lotus, Electric Tobacconist, Eonsmoke, Juice Man, Tinted Brew and VapeCo. Most of the companies did not immediately responded to NPR’s request for comment.”We absolutely affirm that these products don’t belong in the hands of children,” Bruce Gibson, the CEO of The Electric Tobacconist, said in a statement. “As such we have an extensive age verification platform that means a purchase can’t be completed until a person’s age has been established through a third party platform.” “To teenagers, the health and addiction risks of vaping are simply too high,” Stein said. “That is why my office is asking the court to protect our kids by shutting down these operations in our state.”In the lawsuit against Juul, filed in May, Stein’s office asked a court to block the company from selling e-cigarette products to minors in North Carolina and not allow the company to sell any flavors online other than tobacco or menthol.Many e-cigarette companies have said their products help cigarette smokers to quit. But there’s also vast evidence that many young people who have never smoked are vaping. “While tobacco use among teens dropped from 28 percent to just above 5 percent from 2000 to 2017, the rise of e-cigarettes has led the number of high schoolers using tobacco products back up to nearly 30 percent and 7 percent among middle schoolers,” Stein’s office said. The Food and Drug Administration has warned that teen vaping in the U.S. has reached “an epidemic proportion” and is trying to reduce the sales and marketing of the devices to teens. Many e-cigarettes contain nicotine, the addictive chemical found in cigarettes. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, nicotine is particularly dangerous to young people. “Nicotine exposure during adolescence and young adulthood can cause addiction and harm the developing brain,” it said. Last year, 20% of high school students said they had used e-cigarettes in the past month. San Francisco officials recently voted to ban the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes in that city.Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit NPR. North Carolina Says It Is Suing 8 E-Cigarette Companies read more

In her exhibition titled At War With The Obvious one will get to see a hand bag installation titled, Traffic, and several other art works made using waste material. The exterior of the installation is made with tyre tubes. One can walk in the bag and the interiors resemble a chaotic city. The project – a series of paintings, multimedia works and installations examine this life changing dream and her journey to its actual counterpart in real life impact of landfill site. ‘My artworks are a call to the collective conscience of India, that we can be better than this. I believe India has the capacity to do better than this,’ says Ahuja.She have been working in the development field for 20 years.When: 1 December – 4 December Where: Palm Court, India Habitat Centre

In order to promote tourism and to bring forward the best of best features that Kerala, popularly known as God’s Own Country, offers to make one’s holidaying experience, heavenly, Kerala Tourism held a press meet with Nanda Kumar, Deputy Director, Kerala Tourism. The event, which took place in the national Capital on Friday had some cultural performances that enthralled the guests.Kerala is the perfect holiday destination of India; from picturesque landscapes, exciting getaways to rich culture and heritage the state has a lot to showcase. As a ritual, the state brings you a 360 degree preview of India’s favorite destination; the essence of the state being captured in one single event. The idea is to witness the rich culture, extravagant heritage, magnificent landscapes, cuisine, music and art all in one show. Also Read – ‘Playing Jojo was emotionally exhausting’To strengthen Kerala’s position as ‘God’s Own Country’ and to create a destination pull, Kerala Tourism will also launch a new theme campaign to showcase Kerala and its unique attractions. Food festivals conducted in cities such as Ahmadabad and Mumbai to market Kerala’s authentic cuisine, one of the tourist attractions of the State. Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) will come up with special discounted packages during the period.Kerala Tourism has declared the period from April 2015 to April 2016 as ‘Visit Kerala Year’ and an array of activities are planned as part of it. In the wake of the fresh initiative, Kerala Tourism will explore more new markets like China, Sri Lanka etc. Also Read – Leslie doing new comedy special with NetflixA comprehensive festivals and events calendar will be prepared and promoted through multiple channels, including India Tourism Offices and Indian embassies abroad. Kerala will be promoted as a major “Wedding and MICE destination” through online campaigns. As part of its innovative water-based tourism facilities, the Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Ltd., under the state’s Department of Tourism, launched the Hop-on Hop-off boat service and Water Taxis, for the first time in India, in the backwaters of Kochi and in the Spice Route project of Muziris.read more

A combination of a common diabetes medication and a drug for treating hypertension may effectively combat a wide range of cancer cells by driving them to commit ‘suicide’, a new study has claimed.Metformin is the most widely prescribed drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Besides its blood sugar lowering effect, it also displays anti-cancer properties. The usual therapeutic dose is too low to effectively fight cancer.Researchers, led by Michael Hall from the University of Basel in Switzerland, found that antihypertensive drug syrosingopine potentiates the anti-cancer efficacy of metformin. Also Read – Add new books to your shelfThe drug combination drives cancer cells to programmed “suicide.” At higher doses, the antidiabetic drug inhibits the growth of cancer cells but could also induce unwanted side effects.Researchers screened over a thousand drugs for whether they can enhance the anticancer action of metformin.The cocktail with syrosingopine effective in a wide range of cancers, researchers said.“For example, in samples from leukaemia patients, we demonstrated that almost all tumour cells were killed by this cocktail and at doses that are actually not toxic to normal cells,” said Don Benjamin, from the University of Basel. Also Read – Over 2 hours screen time daily will make your kids impulsive“And the effect was exclusively confined to cancer cells, as the blood cells from healthy donors were insensitive to the treatment,” Benjamin said.In mice with malignant liver cancer, enlargement of the liver was reduced after the therapy. Also the number of tumour nodules was less – in some animals the tumours disappeared completely.A glance at the molecular processes in the tumour cells explains the drug combination’s efficacy: Metformin lowers not only the blood glucose level, but also blocks the respiratory chain in the energy factories of the cell, the mitochondria. The antihypertensive drug syrosingopine inhibits, among other things, the degradation of sugars.Thus, the drugs interrupt the vital processes which provide energy for the cell.Due to their increased metabolic activity and rapid growth, cancer cells have a particularly high energy consumption, which makes them extremely vulnerable when the energy supply is reduced.By testing a range of other compounds with the same mode of action, the scientists could demonstrate that the inhibition of the respiratory chain in the mitochondria is a key mechanism.These also reduced cancer cell growth in combination with the antihypertensive drug.“We have been able to show that the two known drugs lead to more profound effects on cancer cell proliferation than each drug alone,” said Benjamin.“The data from this study support the development of combination approaches for the treatment of cancer patients,” he said.The study was published in the journal Science Advances.read more

Pooja from Bihar shares her paying guest accommodation at Arora’s PG in North Campus with three other DU students: Sam, Deb and Meghna. The slice-of-life incidents in this fictional mini web-series are largely inspired by real life stories of young girls in Delhi.’The good girl show’ brings forth issues that matter to young women who have come in search of their identities to big cities. Fashion, alcohol, doping, PMS, love, friendship, pre-marital sex, bra sizes, affairs, sexuality, safety and something as simple as cat-fights over money matters; the show touches upon these real concerns of young women without raising a slogan, or without being preachy. Also Read – Add new books to your shelfIf one was, to sum up, the philosophy of the mini-series, and why this show was made, it could be defined simply as the message with “Let each girl be who she is.” That has been the basic drive behind telling the stories of these four young DU girls through this show.This drama/comedy mini-series will release on YouTube on Monday, February 27th.Anu Singh Choudhary an award-winning journalist, author, editor and filmmaker has written and directed ‘The good girl show’. Also Read – Over 2 hours screen time daily will make your kids impulsiveA 2004 Graduate from IIT Kharagpur, Prashant Raj who worked in several strategic roles across start-ups is the producer.Mahak Chajjer plays Pooja Prakash. Mahak is an Economics Graduate from Hindu College. Tanya Singh plays Sam Taneja. An avid reader, Tanya has studied from Kanpur University and is a young media professional.Carolyne Mate plays Meghna Simtey. Carolyne is pursuing Chemistry Honours from St. Stephen’s College. Srishty Jha is from Delhi. A trained classical singer, pursuing her Master’s. Prashant Kumar plays Vikas Misra. He is an NSD Graduate and alumnus of Kirorimal College. Ashai Sachdeva is a trained actor, and was an assistant director in Bhaag Milkha Bhag. The original music has been created by three Delhi boys – Celjo John, Anirban Mukherjee and Abhishek Sharma.read more